EAST HAMPTON, NY: Eric Firestone Gallery is pleased to announce She Sells Seashells By The Seashore, a group exhibition that brings the beach to the gallery. The Hamptons has long served as a meeting ground for bohemian spirits and the well-heeled, alike. It is a natural respite, as well as a chic outpost of the nearby city. What draws us to this coastal stretch year after year is the beach. On our shared sands, the Hamptons is not just a destination: it is a community bound together by a state of mind. Something in the ocean breeze rids us of our winter pretenses and clothing. An energy is absorbed from the sun and stars, pools and popsicles, seafood and S’mores. Summer strips us down to our bare essentials and brings us back to the basics.

Through various means, each artist in the exhibition emphasizes symbols of Summer. FriendsWithYou’s sculpture, Raisin Bran Sun, depicts Kellogg’s familiar mascot, Sunny, an icon of the brand introduced in 1966. Since then, Sunny has undergone major cosmetic alterations. Today, Kellogg’s still portrays the smiling sun scooping mounds of raisins into every box. For She Sells…, the Los Angeles-based collective re-imagines the American icon away from commodification and towards the original subject: a smiling sun. James Ulmer too, shows pared down symbols of Summer, using punchy primary colors to depict scenes at a beach. In Ulmer’s painting, his cartoon-like characters coexist on a flattened plane, mirroring the experience of going to the beach on a crowded day.

Moreover, the exhibition presents the convergence of technology and nature. Eric Yahnker approach- es this with humor in Selfie Preservation, commenting on a generation’s obsession with smart tech- nology. An outstretched hand, reminiscent of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, emerges from rough waves, clutching an iPhone, tilted at the perfect angle for a selfie. She Sells… is about enjoying aes- thetics and appreciating artists’ intentions–yet, it is not about taking oneself seriously. So, succumb to that inner child who builds sandcastles at the beach and watches them as they wash away with the tide. We’ll cushion the floor with sand, and you won’t need a beach pass to enjoy the view.

Underlying his iconic imagery and heightened sense of primordial time, beyond the movements between figuration and abstraction, there is a general optimism in the post-50’s work of Philip Guston. Behind each oddly described object there is a desire to like the world and discover little pleasures in the unfamiliar and sometimes darker recesses of reality. Guston’s post-50’s studio was a menagerie of masterful deconstruction and then obliteration of formal painterly concerns. It was through this transformation that he learned to navigate the difficult science of color and began to experiment with non-hierarchical configurations of order.

As an artist who was made famous for work that was stubbornly eccentric to the contemporary enthusiasms of his day, his style and unique voice have proven to carry some serious lasting power. But it was over forty years ago that Guston’s work transformed the world of painting. If legacy is built on the influence of future generations what sort of influence has Guston’s work had on the imagination of today’s studio artist? What has Philip Guston done for you lately? To answer this question The Lodge Gallery presents “Heathen Fundamentalist” on view from June 3rd through June 28th.

The Lodge Gallery, founded by Keith Schweitzer and Jason Patrick Voegele, is located at 131 Chrystie Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. It is the exhibition venue of Republic Worldwide and serves as both an art space and a gathering place for hearty discourse and experimentation.